Golf Course Review of Berwick upon Tweed Golf Club

Looking out from the clubhouse at Berwick upon Tweed Golf
Club you would be forgiven for thinking that the course wasn’t really up to a
great deal. You would be wrong. Very wrong.

For it is not until you venture a little further out onto the
bumpy linksland at Goswick that the golf course really starts to come alive and
show its full character.

Arguably the worst two shots on the course can be seen as
you drive into the club; the opening tee-shot with an ugly copse of trees as
well as internal out-of-bounds down the right and the approach to the
uninspiring par three ninth.

That aside this classic and genuine links course, found
just south of the border town of Berwick, delivers not only a true test of
golf but asks you to hit a wonderful variety of strokes, both along the
ground and through the air. There is much more movement in the land than you
might expect from your initial impression of the course with some superb
changes in elevation throughout the 18 holes.

A centrally situated clubhouse, located at the end of a
twisting 3 mile single track lane and close to the main East Coast railway
line, dissects the course that runs along the beautiful Northumberland
coastline; front nine to the north and back nine to the south.

The welcome is always warm and friendly at this
much
underrated links that has hosted Regional Open Qualifying in its recent
history and pushes 7,000 yards from the back tees.

The duneland of the outward half tilts slightly towards the
inland side of the course and as a result of this you play to raised greens
at the first and fifth where flighting the ball well is paramount,
especially if the wind is blowing straight in off the sea, even more so if
it is across.

You also get to play thrilling drives across sloping
fairways, which drape over the rumpled duneland elegantly, from elevated
tees at the third and sixth; both of which dog-leg slightly to the right as
does the reachable par five fourth.

The sixth is also a par five and was my favourite hole on
the entire course and perhaps in the whole of Northumberland. It has an
amazing green complex that has a real air of class about it. In truth the
green complex actually starts over 100 yards short of the putting surface as
the contours of the land gradually build to a crescendo. A high teeing
ground, hard against the boundary fence with a lovely view of more golden
duneland, invites you to pull driver from the bag but it is the approach
that takes your breath away with the superb lofted green location and
menacing bunkers glaring at you as you stand in the middle of the fairway. A
couple of sand hazards 50-60 yards short of the green add to the challenge
on a hole that is nothing short of exceptional.

Holes seven and eight begin the run to the turn and
although they are played on flatter land they are both good holes with
inviting but tricky second shots to wonderful greens, the latter boasting a
brilliant raised side-tier on the left.

The first eight holes at Goswick undoubtedly belong in the
top bracket of links golf courses they are of such a high calibre. From here on in the course isn't as
consistently good as what's gone before it but has arguably the more
interesting and unique holes.

Two sound holes take you away from the clubhouse at the
start of the back nine, the first of which is a conventional long par four
whilst the next is a par five that has a brilliant fairway with many
undulations. A semi-blind approach greets you at the 12th, on the assumption
that you have found the rolling fairway, before more solid golf is required
at the 200 plus yard par three that is played to a large green relatively in
the open but protected by a ring of bunkers.

The next two holes at Goswick excel in the quirk factor. A
par four through a shallow valley of dunes to a bowl green site at the 14th
is an absolute delight whilst the next is a short downhill par three that
requires a high dropping shot to a dell green surrounded not only by bunkers
but steep slopes that could easily ricochet a ball several yards through the
back of the green. The view from this tee across more sandhills and out
towards Holy Island is blissful.

Holes 16, 17 and 18 comprise a solid finish at Goswick,
particularly stern if into a northerly wind, but present birdie
opportunities on a benign day; the tempting driveable 18th should be an easy
pick-up but I bet many a card has been wrecked by one, or more, of the
plethora of bunkers that encircle the green. My latest visited consisted of
playing the Winter course when the last is actually played as a 202-yard par
three. In my opinion it plays much better as a long one-shotter than a short
two-shotter.

What I like most about Goswick is the variety. It mixes
quirk with traditional links golf to magnificent effect. One moment you are
being asked to hit conventional links shots but then at the next you must
think outside the box in order to get maximum reward. The fine bunkering is
also a strong aspect of the course, particularly the fairway traps; they are
well positioned and must be avoided.

How Golf World Magazine missed this course from their top
200 rankings, let alone the top 100, is a mystery to me. This is as good as
many of the top links in East Lothian and knocks socks of many of its
southern counterparts. And perhaps that is the reason; its relative
isolation, in no man’s land, just off the A1 in Northumberland on England’s
East Coast.

The course is undoubtedly worth a stop-off on the way up to
or down from Scotland but in truth it is much more deserving than that. Each
hole has something about it that makes this an essential course for those
who love the game of golf.